An accountant has been found guilty of involvement in a 10-year VAT scam that swindled more than £16m out of HM Revenue & Customs. Stewart Collins, 52, of Hornchurch, Essex, was said to have played a key role in the elaborate money-making scheme, which involved fake building development companies claiming VAT returns for work and services on properties that were never built. Ringleader Costas Sophocleous, of Walthamstow, and his accomplice, Philip Foster, of Leyton, had already pleaded guilty to the fraud. All three will be sentenced in December.